Easy Healthy Chicken Lo Mein Recipe Under 250 Calories

The best healthy chicken lo mein recipe (237 calories)! It’s easy, quick, and so good you won’t need to order Chinese takeout!

There are three things that I start to crave if I go too long without eating them: cheeseburgers, pizza, and Chinese food. I’m wishing upon finishing that last sentence that at least one of those foods had been interesting.

The cheeseburger craving always gets knocked out with a shack stack at Shake Shack. (Don’t ever tell me Five Guys is better; it’s not and never will be). The pizza craving is almost too easy—come up on any street corner in New York City and you’re sure to find a good slice. Sad that I know this? Maybe. True? Yes. But the Chinese food craving…this one is more of a challenge to satisfy. It has to be eaten with Daniel and it has to be at a buffet.

When I met Daniel twelve years ago, I quickly learned that his favorite food in the entire world was Chinese. And he quickly learned not to order it with me, because I’d eat all the lo mein and all the crab rangoon. My tastes are very, very refined.

But there’s no fooling ourselves at buffets. Even the vegetables are saucy and oily and sticky-sweet. So we own it: it’s a gut-buster. But every once in a while–like once every month or two–that’s so, so better than fine. Any more often than that, and we know we’re turning a good thing bad.

To keep me feeling satisfied between jaunts to our favorite Chinese spots, I make a healthier—but seriously delicious—version at home. The sauce is salty-sweet with just a touch of smokiness from toasted sesame oil and, shhh, a little barbecue sauce. To keep things light and low in calories, I loaded it with veggies and swapped traditional noodles for Shirataki noodles, which have so few calories you would be shocked (20 calories for a whole package!). If you’re not interested in trying these tofu noodles, or you’ve had them and they just weren’t for you, try spiralizing a summer squash or zucchini for just as few calories.

Friends, I hope you try this. I’m telling you, it will not disappoint :)

Make the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce, barbecue sauce, sesame oil, clove of garlic, brown sugar, and corn starch. Set aside.

Rinse and drain the Shirataki noodles well. Press them dry with a paper towel to get as much moisture out as possible. This will help to ensure the sauce sticks to them and doesn’t slip off.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a clean plate and wipe out the pan with paper towels.

Return the pan to medium-high heat (turning it down if it begins to smoke) and add the remaining teaspoon of oil. Add the celery, bell pepper, and scallions, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Return the cooked chicken to the pan. Add the Shirataki noodles and the soy sauce mixture, tossing to coat all ingredients well, and let the pan cook until the sauce has thickened, about 2 minutes.

gurllll. I feel you on the pizza places in NYC – I’m fairly positive I’ve gained fifteen pounds in the last six months after moving here just from SMELLING IT. this looks AMAZING and I have all the stuff I need in my fridge…. dinner tonight? I think so.

Thanks so much for this! I’ve been looking for a really good and simple lo mein. I think our grocery store in backwoods MS even sells the shirataki noodles! (finally) I’m def. gonna hafta try this one out. Love me some lo mein. I like it when it’s full of cabbage, too.

Chinese buffets and Panda Express orange chicken are two of my greatest food weaknesses. I’ve tried making a healthier orange chicken at home and it’s just not the same. It has to be breaded, sticky and tangy/spicy. ;-)

Hi Andie!
I just want to say that I made your recipe for dinner tonight and it was AWESOME!
It was my first time cooking and tasting Shirataki spaghetti noodles. I was a little nervous (I’m not usually a big fan of tofu products) but it was perfect! The texture of the shirataki noodles was a similar to that of ramen noodles, which I LOVE.
This recipe will definitely become a regular on my weekly menu! Thanks for the recipe and for your wonderful blog!

I’ve been wanting to try these noodles after reading about them on DietBet but didn’t think I could pull off a swap out on my own and get it past the family. This recipe matched my fridge contents (except for the noodles) so I took a chance and bought them. They are AWESOME and your sauce is too. Their texture was like ramen and no one commented about anything being different. I got these noodles by a pasta fanatic and a tofu hater. Thanks for the great recipe idea. I see more lo mein stir frys in my future.

I made this last night and it was amazing! I was not sure how I would feel about the tofu noodles but they were perfect…I had to tell my husband that this was a serving for 4 because he kept putting more on this plate!!!! Making your Thai Basil meatballs tonight! I think I am going to make one of your recipes every night..maybe I should start a blog about your blog lol. Your website has been a Godsend for many reasons but it’s also so much fun for a struggling foodie like me:) Thanks!

I didn’t know what shirataki noodles were until I went to the store. I hesitantly put them in my cart and put all my trust in this recipe. Lets be honest they looked nasty! However I was pleasantly surprised. This was so yummy I had a hard time not eating all 4 servings by myself. My husband is hard to please and he kept asking if we could break out the leftovers. Great job with this recipe.

How have I never tried these noodles? As a pasta lover, they could be my salvation. I’m not holding out much hope in finding them in my new town (3 grocery store employees, including the manager had never heard of tahini) but I will search today and if not….there’s always mail order!

I found this recipe on Pinterest today. I must admit to streamlining by using frozen stir fry veggies, a Baggie of previously cooked chicken tenders and some leftover angel hair noodles I had stashed in the freezer. But the sauce was fantastic, and as much as we like stir fry and chow mein, we had never made LO mein before. It was delicious! Thanks for the inspiration and the recipe.